Blue1

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Blue1
IATA
KF		 ICAO
SAS
BLF		 Callsign
SCANDINAVIAN
BLUEFINN
Founded 1987
Hubs Copenhagen Airport
Focus cities

Helsinki-Vantaa Airport Arlanda Airport

Frequent-flyer program EuroBonus
Airport lounge Scandinavian Lounge
Alliance Star Alliance (full member, 2004–2012, now affiliate)
Fleet size 9
Destinations 28
Parent company Scandinavian Airlines System Aktiebolag
Headquarters Vantaa, Finland
Key people Janne Hattula (CEO)
Website www.sas.fi
Blue1 head office
A Blue1 Boeing 717-200 landing at Arlanda Airport in 2012.

Blue1 Ltd (Finnish: Blue1 Oy) [1] is a Finnish airline owned by the Scandinavian Airlines System Aktiebolag, with its hub at Copenhagen Airport. Blue1 flies to around 28[2] destinations in Finland, Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. It carried over 1.7 million passengers in 2011.[2] The airline is an affiliate member of Star Alliance and has its head office in Vantaa.[3][4][5]

History

The airline was established in 1987 and started operations in 1988 as Air Botnia, flying Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirantes on night cargo flights and on passenger services from Helsinki to Kauhajoki and Seinäjoki.[6] It started to supplement its unpressurised Bandeirantes with leased British Aerospace Jetstream 31s in 1993, but cash flow problems in the summer of 1995 caused British Aerospace to repossess the Jetstreams and brought Air Botnia to the point of bankruptcy, with last minute negotiations needed to save the airline, which continued operations in a reduced scale.[7]

The airline was purchased by SAS Group in January 1998, with the new owners re-equipping the airline, replacing its Jetstreams with Saab 340s later that year, and receiving its first jets, Fokker F28 Fellowships in 1999. The elderly F28s were soon replaced as their high noise levels restricted operations, with Avro RJ85s being received in 2001, with its Saab 340s being replaced by larger Saab 2000s at the same time.[8]

Air Botnia was renamed Blue1 in January 2004,[9] and joined the Star Alliance as the first regional member on 3 November 2004. Blue1 became a full member of the Star Alliance on 1 January 2010. Blue1 left the Star Alliance November 2012 and became an affiliate of Scandinavian Airlines.

In 2005 Blue1 became the second largest Finnish airline with more than 100 daily flights and biggest operator between Finland and Scandinavia.

In 2006 Blue1 started 10 new nonstop routes to Europe increasing its total capacity by more than 50%.

In 2008 Blue1 moved its London operations from Stansted to Heathrow Airport, and undertook strong expansion on domestic business routes. In 2009 new routes to Lapland, including Paris-Kittilä were opened for the winter season and routes to Biarritz, Dubrovnik and Split for summer travel.

Blue1 was the first network airline in Northern Europe to be granted ISO 14001 environmental certificate.[10]

On 1 November 2012, Blue1 became a service producer for SAS. This means that marketing and sales are now handled by SAS (including the use of the SAS internet domain name), and its flights carry the SAS flight prefix "SK".

Destinations

Main article: Blue1 destinations

Fleet

Current fleet

A Blue1 Avro RJ85 parked at Turku Airport (date unknown).

As of December 2012, the Blue1 fleet consists of the following aircraft, with an average age of 10.7 years:[11][12]

Blue1 fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
E Y Total
Boeing 717
9
0
 var. 115

Retired fleet

A Blue1 McDonnell Douglas MD-90 approaching London Heathrow Airport (2008).
Blue1 retired fleet
Aircraft type Years active
McDonnell Douglas MD-90 2006–2011
Avro RJ100 2001–2009
Saab 2000 2001–2006
Fokker F28 1998–2001
Saab 340 1998–2001
Jetstream 31 1993–1998
Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante 1987–1993
Cessna 402 1987–1988

Onboard services

In the cockpit of an Avro RJ

Blue1 offers two service classes, Economy and Economy Extra (previously Blue1 Premium).[13]

  • Economy Class: Coffee and tea are included on all Blue1 operated flights. Sandwiches and other drinks are available for purchase from "Cafe1".[14] Flights with very short flight time may have reduced service.
  • Economy Extra: Fast Track security and Business Class check-in is included where available.

References

  1. ↑ "Blue1 Oy". Business Information System. Helsinki: The National Board of Patents and Registration and the Tax Administration, Finland. Retrieved 10 February 2011. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Annual Report 2011 sasannualreport2011.com Retrieved 22 August 2013.
  3. ↑ "Blue1 – Star Alliance". Star Alliance. Retrieved 15 January 2012. 
  4. ↑ "Blue1 Head office." blue1. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  5. ↑ "Privacy Policy." Blue1. Retrieved 25 February 2010. "or by visiting Rahtitie 3, 01530 Vantaa in person, where also the description of the data file is available for review."
  6. ↑ Pagiola 2004, p. 42.
  7. ↑ Pagliola 2004, pp. 42–43.
  8. ↑ Pagiola 2004, p. 44.
  9. ↑ Pagliola 2004, p. 45.
  10. ↑ Flight International 27 March 2007
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ Blue1 aircraft types
  13. ↑ "Blue1 Premium". blue1.com. Retrieved 16 September 2011. 
  14. ↑ "Mmmmmmm Mmmmmenu" (pdf). blue1.com. autumn 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2011. 
  • Pagiola, Stefano. "Stars In Their Eyes: Finland's Blue 1 Regional Airline". Air International, Vol 67 No 4. pp. 42–45.

External links

Media related to Blue1 at Wikimedia Commons

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